The DCEU Movie Ranking Going Into Zack Snyder's Justice League

    In honor of Zack Snyder's Justice League coming out I have been doing a rewatch of the entire DCEU, 2013's Man of Steel through 2020's Wonder Woman 1984. Naturally with a new DCEU movie coming out that means ranking time. I want something in the forefront of this, Zack Snyder was screwed over by Warner Brothers and I am so very happy for him that he gets to finish his vision of the DCEU. The DCEU has been controversial and celebrated from the very beginning with Man of Steel. Whether you adore the DCEU or are just a random hater, we all have opinions on it. So let's get into the ranking.

9. Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) - IMDb Score: 5.4

    The most recent DCEU is unfortunately the worst, and I do not think it is even close. When I first watched this movie it was one of the first time getting to return to the theater and I was sucked into the experience, rewatches since it has been a rude awakening of oh no this is horrible. This movie has just SO MANY plot holes, bad writing, logic failures, continuity errors and just horrible cgi. This movie made me question whether or not Patty Jenkins is actually a good director because of how she says she fought to have creative control of the first Wonder Woman and was right so they let her have control of this movie and wow somebody should've been there to pull the reins. I want to blame Warner Brother and I especially want to blame covid but this movie has too many issues to top to bottom to say it is one person or entities fault, everyone is to blame.

8. Justice League (2017) - IMDb Score: 6.3

    This movie is Joss Whedon and Warner Brother's fault. It is well documented that this was supposed to be a part 1, and the movie was nearly finished and Zack Snyder had a family tragedy and had to step away for some time. Instead of doing right by Snyder and the past four years worth of movies that was supposed to build to this movie Warner Brothers decided to freak out and hire Joss Whedon to finish this movie. Joss Whedon then given full control decided to gut this film to the bone refilm scenes and change the story. It doesn't stop there as we know, Henry Cavill had already moved on and had grown facial hair for Mission Impossible - Fallout and instead of THEN stopping the reshoots because Superman is under contract for a different movie filming they decided to have him come in and film WITH the facial hair and do some of the worst cgi cover up we have seen since the 90's. 

7. Suicide Squad (2016) - IMDb Score: 6.0

    This is the first movie on this list that I will say cross the line into the fun movie but still a bad movie. Yes that obviously exists for you crazies who say "well if you enjoy it that makes it good, art is subjective", art is one million percent subjective but whether something is done WELL isn't. Will Smith Margot Robbie are both amazing in this movie I want that highlighted. The writing of this entire movie makes zero sense. It is embarrassing how they spent time introducing the "heroes" one by one and then just didn't for Slipknot (gee I wonder who dies first). Katana being the most pathetic introduction for such a badass character is also embarrassing, sign me up for the Ayer cut if we actually get a real intro for her. Or you know.. set up all of these characters as villains in actual superhero movies so we give a damn about them before introducing all NINE characters in one movie. However you felt about Jared Leto's Joker he was wasted in this movie for the MASSIVE promotional push he had.

6. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Ultimate Edition) (2016) - IMDb Score: 6.4

    Yes I am cheating putting ultimate edition on here instead of theatrical, theatrical would have been below suicide squad. Ultimate edition at least makes this movie make sense thematically. Does it fix the fact they forced multiple of the biggest storylines in the history of comic books into the SECOND movie? No of course not, it was a spit in the face of dc comic fans and if you do not feel that way it is because you are more than likely a Snyder cultist or do not care about comics, and the later is okay not everyone has to. The movie itself carries such a gravitas that simply is not earned, like I said SECOND movie, and film audiences felt that. All three of our heroes are great for their roles it is simply entirely the fault of the writing and production that this movie failed. A Batman v Superman movie should feel dark gritty and grimey, but it means nothing to see Superman to stoop down to that level when we have never seen him be the beacon of hope, truth, joy and justice that he is supposed to be. Jesse Eisenberg is an incredible actor who was close to having a career launch but I seriously believe everyone's reaction to how terrible this role of Lex Luthor was that he was sidelined by Hollywood because of the overwhelming negative reaction. This movie being this high is more a testament to how terrible the DCEU has been.

5. Man of Steel (2013) - IMDb Score: 7.0

    The movie that kicked off the entire DCEU. I thought this movie was a very solid take on Superman but was always confused why the tone of the movie about the character whose "S" stands for hope was so dark and dreary. It was always an acceptable movie as long as the follow up sequel actually showed Superman being the beacon of hope that they bashed into our heads over and over in this movie. Man of Steel 2 never happened. Like I said, no problem with the darkness and muted colors for THIS movie it fit, but the script itself is so weird how close it is to being incredible. I can not do it justice here so click here to listen to Jake Lloyd on Coycast go through the movie fixing it in his "Mending Steel" segment. It is delightful.

4. Birds of Prey (2020) - IMDb Score: 6.1

    Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is the first movie on this list that is an actual good solid movie. No blatant egregious issues that hold the movie back, no acting or character issues, and no massive plot holes that ruin the movie. Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn is the best casting in the entirety of the history of DC movies. Bar none. (Now I want to do a blog doing the top 10 let me know if I should). This was DC's and us the fans break up with the controversial Jared Leto Joker, I personally liked the take just wish it happened in a Batman movie, letting Harley Quinn become her own character separate from him. I feel like most people who actually watched this movie (sadly not many people it had HORRIBLE promotion by Warner Brothers) left it wanting more from these characters actually excited to see what is next. This movie has the best fight choreography of any DCEU movie and it really is not close, Harley Quinn's fight in the jail by itself is better than every fight sequence in any DC movie.. maybe ever.

3. Wonder Woman (2017) - IMDb Score: 7.4

    Man this movie really gave all of us hope for the DCEU. This movie deserves all of the praise it received. The first two thirds of this movie is absolutely incredible and nothing should be changed.. then the third act happens and it sadly falls into goofy tropes which do not ruin the movie at all just leave us wishing for something different. Remus Lupin as Ares the God of War was.. a choice is all I will say. This movie is great and Gal Gadot playing the young naive Princess Diana of Themyscira was incredible. The close up action sequences of Wonder Woman taking out enemy soldiers is some of the best fighting in the entire DCEU only behind Birds of Prey.

2. Shazam (2019)- IMDb Score: 7.0 

    This has to be the biggest surprise of the DCEU. Shazam is a character that is older than Superman and initially used to kill him in selling comics and popularity but for whatever reason the character just fell off. I can't blame WB for that ha. Zachary Levi and Asher Angel are two sides to a hilarious heartfelt coin as they each play Billy Batson in normal kid form and in full Shazam form. Not mentioning Jack Dylan Grazer's Freddy would be a big mistake as he is the funniest part of the movie and really the driving force of Billy being a hero. I was ecstatic to see Mark Strong return to a DC movie after being the only good part of 2010's Green Lantern playing Sinestro (a role he was born to play).

1. Aquaman (2018) - IMDb Score: 6.9 

    Here we go number 1 Aquaman, I can feel the twitter mentions hot already. This is the best movie in the DCEU. It is a movie that absolutely should not have worked, that was shockingly great. James Wan fixed the weird underwater look from Justice League and made Atlantis a beautiful shocking sight to behold. This movie went WILD with comic booky and ancient myth goodness and it deserves even more praise for how well it nailed it. I had low hopes for this movie I figured it would look cool and Jason Momoa would just be cool but the story would sputter and fail but I was wrong. This movie took classic Arthurian storytelling and rightfully applied it to DC's own King Arthur and made an epic world trotting tale that is worth the giant IMAX viewing and ticket price.

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